Shireen Baratheon

In hushed tones, Garlan lays out his peace terms.

A marriage pact between Stannis's daughter, Shireen, and his eldest brother, Willis.

A union that binds the Tyrells to Stannis's cause and deprives Renly of his strongest ally.

Yet Ned is skeptical.

I mean, it was anticlimactic and just awful.

He burns his own young daughter, Shireen, at the stake to melt the snows and secure a tactical advantage.

And then he immediately loses the battle anyway.

It was very rushed.

so painful and awful and he says to jorah put this in your mouth because i don't want anybody to hear you scream so sam is curing jorah through some forbidden method that apparently involves dragonglass.

And yes, I am still holding tight to the idea that Shireen Baratheon was never healed from greyscale, it was simply dormant within her, and I know that the show may have a different take on that, and that's totally fine with me.

Another scene which I liked, actually, was the dragon killer scene.

So Cersei is talking to some of the lords of Westeros, including Randall Tarly about Daenerys Targaryen, and how they have to stop her because she's probably crazy just like the Mad King, and they're like, but she's got dragons, how are you gonna kill a dragon? And then Cersei just looks at Qyburn, and then you get this scene down in the dungeons where all the dragon skulls are, and Cersei and Qyburn walk up to the skull of Balerion the Black Dread, and then Qyburn unveils this sick-looking device, and Cersei launches an arrow straight through the skull of Balerion the Black Dread, one of the greatest dragons that have ever lived, and it was awesome.

Now the first question is, is there a cure for greyscale? I think that a lot of people are confused.

When Shireen Baratheon was a little girl, Stannis Baratheon used all his resources, but all they did was stop the spread of greyscale.

In A Dance with Dragons, when the free woman, Val, sees Shireen, she understands immediately that Shireen must die.

In the books, Shireen is a ticking time bomb.

Hmm.

The Shireen spoiler.

This is arguably one of the most unique moments in modern pop culture history.

In Season 5, the TV show delivered one of the most sickening moments of the entire run.

Stannis Baratheon's army is freezing, starving, and trapped in the snow.

Melisandre convinces him that only king's blood can secure the Lord of Light's favor.

So Stannis takes his own daughter, Princess Shireen, this incredibly sweet, innocent girl who taught Davos to read, and he burns her alive at the stake.

He just stands there while she screams for her parents.

Rather than fight her, though, Stannis makes a bold decision and supports her claims in the east, sending men to support her fight in Slaver's Bay to pacify her and make her less likely to invade Westeros.

To ensure no future conflict, when Ned informs him about Jon's true parentage and offers a suggestion, Stannis marries Shireen to Jon to secure his dynasty and ensure that the Targaryens cannot threaten his rule.

Meanwhile, the Free Folk continue to follow Ned after seeing his success in halting the White Walkers, allowing him to better integrate them into the North, leaving Robb to rule in his own right.

That's our theory.

Melisandre might sacrifice her own life force.

She might burn the innocent Princess Shireen Baratheon at the stake to generate the power, or most tragically, Ghost might have to be slaughtered to force Jon's soul out of the wolf and back into his human corpse.

The trauma of whatever happens will leave him fundamentally broken.

But technically, his vows to the Night's Watch say, "It shall not end until my death." He died.